X Days
by Hyoxjnn
Summary: My first Fanfiction :3 I can do this! An original story set long after the events of The World Ends With You that revolves around a new team of Players who find themselves in the Remixed Reapers' Game fighting to survive against all new rules. Updates may be sparse; I'm a busy person sadly :'[ Please review if you have the time! I'd appreciate it :)
1. Chapter I - Prologue

**Um... Is this how you put an Author's Note...?  
I was under the impression that it was an integrated feature XD**

**Well anyway... This is the first ever chapter I've written~  
Kind of scared o_o  
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, I realise that it's rather short, and maybe... Terrible.  
But anyway, "From little things, big things grow," right?**

**Oh, by the way the 'X' in "X Days," isn't just the letter 'X', and it's not the Roman numeral for '10' either.**

**Just Saiyan c:**

**Annnyway, I love The World Ends With You, so I hope that... This...**

I'm going to stop talking now, I think I'll just let you read XD

"Typing," "I'm going to stop typing now," that's what I meant :P

**SHHKRTTZ.**

**ENJOY. PLEASE.  
If you can :'|**

**...**

**...  
... "Anyway" :3**

* * *

**Chapter I – Prologue**

Katy slashed through the last Noise Symbol before it could touch her; another clean Erasure, but she wasn't done yet; she kept running.

"Where's the source...?" she whispered, talking to herself.

Years of being alone will do that to you.

_Wait!_ She thought to herself. Skidding to a halt, Katy whipped around and ran back the way she came, and stopped in front of an alleyway that she had just passed, but it wasn't the alleyway itself that was interesting.  
Katy didn't have time to waste, but she stood there anyway; she thought she'd heard it…

Katy waited silently for the next 3 seconds. Eyes closed, ears open.

"… -o ar-… Other girls?"

"Jus-… -ight?! It's-… -g on bet-… -Us!"

Katy opened her eyes, which were shining their usual bright violet, and grinned triumphantly.  
_That way!_

* * *

Wasting no more time, she dashed down the narrow space, following the muffled noises of...

"An arguing couple…" Katy realised as she broke into a wide street and paused to catch her breath, slightly harsher than usual.  
_Classic_, she mused as she made her way over to them: A short, thin teenage girl and a tall, wiry young man.

The girl was yelling something about the man, who was doing a very poor job of defending himself, spending too much time with other girls.  
Katy wasn't really listening to the noise though, it'd be gone soon.

"Just like you," Katy spoke to the Noise attached to the couple. Not 'noise' as in a sound, of course; a Noise: An ethereal manifestation of stray Imagination, or strong negative emotions. This one was made up of both, however; a Negative Noise.  
Katy raised her hand and pointed at the Noise with the object grasped in it:  
A plain, black designer's pin.

Registering the Pin as a threat, the Noise launched itself at Katy; although 'tried to' would've been more accurate: The Noise moved no more than an inch before being Erased by a bolt of flame from Katy's Pin.

Instantly, the arguing stopped.

"I'm… Sorry Michael, you're right… I should just trust you,"

"I'm sorry too… Let's spend more time together, Camila," breaking into twin smiles, the couple shared a hug that Katy thought should definitely be captured and pasted into some cheesy love film.  
Wearing a slight smile of her own, Katy eyes dropped down to look at her right hand; the Mission Timer, which had stopped on 28:26; it blinked once from deep blue to light blue before rapidly dropping to 00:00, and vanishing.

"Noise Erased, noise erased," Katy chanted, permitting herself a small, yet dignified giggle at her own joke.

_Beep_

Katy had pulled out her Re:Phone before it beeped, since she had been expecting it to, but having her attention didn't stop it from making its familiar call. Someone once told her that 'Re:Phone' was meant to be the portmanteau of 'Reaper' and 'phone'; her normally ladylike manner had been momentarily shattered upon hearing that:

"That's… Unbelievably stupid", she had said.  
Regardless of how bad it was named, the Re:Phone did its job and displayed what the message she was anticipating.

[Seven-Star Mission Erase the Noise Cleared. Time Retrieved: 11942 Seconds. Bonus Time: 22680 Seconds. Total Time Reward: 9:37:02]

_About nine and a half hours… I suppose it'll have to do._  
Katy's Existence Timer rose to 14:57:44, but she wasn't looking at it, her shining violet eyes were instead directed skyward, gazing blankly at the clouds, a carefree expression on her face.

_So sad… All this negativity… I haven't changed anything._  
Katy closed her eyes, hiding their brilliant violet glow beneath her gentle eyelids.  
_Same streets… Same crowds, too… Same Noises… Same buildings zig-zagging across the sky..._ _Yeah…_  
Katy lowered her head, opened her eyes, and faced forward; her carefree expression replaced by one of bittersweet frustration.

_Shibuya hasn't changed a bit._

* * *

**Hi :3**

**So yesss, mysterious~  
'Existence Timer', 'Re:Phone', 'Seven-Star Mission'  
The rules of this Game will be quite unfamiliar to you.**

**So, I hope it wasn't... "Terrible"  
I'm just trying to get into the... 'Flow' of writing, as it were.**

**Pleeease give constructive feeback if you have le time to spare *Thumbs-up*  
No flaming please ;_;**

**I'll let you go here, have a nice day!**


	2. Chapter II - Ruined

**Yes~  
I am back for moar XD  
You may have noticed, I'm big on emoticons :3**

**First off; a big thanks to Crow's Gamble and 'Jack' for their reviews (can you check people's gender on this site?)  
I felt like my writing wasn't as bad as I thought XD  
I had previously only read one of Crow's FanFictions but I checked some more out and I recommend you do the same if this chapter fails to provide you with entertainment ;_;**

**Also! I'm sure you've seen one before, but in case you didn't know what it was called: Wikipedia . org ****wiki/Intermodal_container****  
(When I say 'Shipping Container' in this chapter, I'm referring to that)  
... And now you know that the story includes shipping containers- I just spoiled the whooole plot. Dayum.**

**In any case, please enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter II – Ruined**

Leo vaulted across the gap between the two buildings, landing cleanly on the other rooftop, but it wasn't over yet; he kept running.

_Maybe that'll stop them…_ Leo thought to himself as he dove through an empty window pane; the instant he was in the air he stole a glance behind him, reaffirming that his five pursuers had not given up the chase; he laughed.  
_Yeah, right._

Duly noting that his laughter seemed to infuriate the five thugs chasing him, Leo landed smoothly on the floor, and rolled into a low crouching position; he quickly surveyed his surroundings,  
_Looks like this was a… Reading room?_  
'Was'. In other words, 'Before the earthquake struck'.

Shibuya had been hit by an earthquake four years ago, an 8.5 on the Richter Scale; the entire city suffered heavy damages, but the north-east quarter of the city was completely decimated: Windows shattered, walls fell, ceilings collapsed.

The room that Leo was currently squatting in wasn't so bad, however; planted on the roof of a larger building, the walls were intact, and three quarters of the ceiling remained where it should be.

Leo grimaced as he heard the yelling behind him getting closer,  
_That'll have to do._ He sighed to himself as he made a break for the wall; slamming a foot into it once, twice, he used his momentum to climb out of the ruined reading room and kept running.

* * *

Shibuya was a very unique city; no two people were the same. Though that sentence could be used almost everywhere else, it was especially true here.  
People were fiercely independent, everyone had their own ideals and creeds; if you visited Shibuya, you would find it very difficult to find something as commonplace as a club; 'Shibuya' didn't rhyme with 'compliance'.

There were one or two exceptions to this 'Everyone for themselves' rule, unfortunately the only ones were when something shallow was involved, such as a popular celebrity or fashion trends; there, you would find people moving together. Almost like sheep.

But after the earthquake, some things changed.  
Everywhere north-east of Miyashita Park was barred off, being deemed 'Unfit for human residence', but many found a strange charm in the (unofficially named) Ruins of Shibuya; no-one was permitted to enter, so if anyone _did_ get in, there would be no one to answer to.

Many buildings were still structurally sound, and the rugged look of the cityscape gave one the impression that they had discovered some lost, ancient town.  
Free-running became very popular in the Ruins, and became the main way to traverse the area; while sneaking into the Ruins wasn't extremely difficult, transporting a vehicle in without detection was near impossible.

Due to everyone's mutual enjoyment of free-running, the Ruins became a home to a sort of subculture, based on 'Complete Freedom', some making temporary, even permanent residence in the stronger buildings.

Leo thought back to when he first found his way to the Ruins; he had learned that, in the absence of any form of authority, a system based on 'gangs' and 'territory' had developed; despite the formation of 'gangs', people maintained a clean friendly society, but for some that wasn't enough.

_The White Skullers…_  
The name echoed through Leo's mind like a child's shout on a mountain range.  
That was the name of the gang who had taken things too far.  
The White Skullers was a gang comprised of five former prison inmates; strangely, they decided to all wear black business suits, giving them a mafia-like appearance.

Their attire was clearly not store-bought, however; running, fighting, and the like did nothing to wear their black suits out; they had likely been custom-made for them from their 'friends'.  
All had committed relatively minor crimes, such as larceny, however their records made it difficult for them to live in Shibuya's civilization.

But here they flourished; here there were no rules.  
It started with thieving from others, then it escalated to violent attacks on other gangs; their opponents were usually tough enough to escape without serious injury, but meanwhile, the White Skullers had secured a position where no-one wanted to cross them.

* * *

"_PFFT!_" Leo, who had in the middle of a slow inhale with his mouth closed, let out a short burst of air, stopping just short of actually laughing.  
_Dammit_, Leo continued to laugh to himself in spite of his unfortunate position.  
_There's no way they didn't hear that!_

Abandoning his make-shift hiding place, (an empty cardboard box,) Leo descended down an empty elevator shaft to evade his hunters, who had indeed heard his stifled laugh.  
Leo observed that two of the White Skullers had seemingly fallen behind as his thoughts drifted back to what had made him laugh: His first moments in the Ruins…

Competitions were a regular thing in the Ruins, ranging from free-run contests to simple brawls, however it was always clean, and no-one was severely hurt.  
For the White Skullers though, it was a serious issue of pride; they had lost only once in a free-run contest, one member of the opposition thought that it would be clever to "Teach them a lesson," by laying a few harmless traps to slow them down; when the White Skullers saw this, they proceeded to track the gang down and thoroughly beat them down.

One day, Leo had decided to venture into the Ruins; wearing his favourite black hoodie, Leo spent the rest of the day leaping across rooftops, pretending he was a bird in flight.  
That is until a roof, unfortunately weakened more than the others, gave way as he touched down on it. Leo crashed through into the room below, right where another White Skullers brawl was taking place; the resulting chaos ended in the White Skullers losing a contest for the second time.  
Luckily for the rival gang, the White Skullers blamed their loss on Leo, who despite his sincerest apologies would become a target for the rest of his life.  
Literally.

* * *

Leo finally stopped, perched on a roof.  
_Looks like that's it for today…_  
Despite the White Skullers' intimidating presence, Leo was simply much faster and much more agile than all of them combined, and as such, he had now successfully forced them to give up 108 times.  
But this time would be the last time they gave up.

Leo heard the whistle of the metal pipe through the air before it connected with his head, and subsequently managed to duck out of the way, escaping with a minor scrape to his temple.  
Spinning around to face his attacker, he found himself looking at the panting, huge mass of muscle that was the leader of the White Skullers, Reiou Shiyon.

"Though' you'd run away again, eh? Well, I've got you cornered this time, kid!"  
Forcing himself not to laugh at the big man's manner of speech, as well as his ridiculous American accent, Leo realised that he was indeed cornered.  
But he wasn't helpless.  
The metal pipe crudely swung through the air again; it was promptly struck out of the wielder's hand by a well-placed kick from Leo.

"Th' hell!?"  
_That's right, you've never seen me fight before, have you? Well let's see how you go…_  
In terms of muscle and raw power, the White Skullers leader had the clear advantage, but this wasn't an arm-wrestle, speed and reflex counted, and Leo had those in spades.  
Consecutively parrying the thug's clumsy blows, Leo ended the fight with a swift uppercut to the jaw, followed by a sharp kick to the solar plexus.

"_Ugh!_" Shiyon dropped to the ground, fighting the impulse to empty his stomach's contents onto the rooftop.  
Confirming that his opponent was not seriously injured, Leo started to walk away, before a ragged voice called from behind him.

"You… I'm gonna kill you…!"  
But his threats were not heard; Leo had already left the rooftop.

Perhaps if he had stayed and listened the next day would've turned out differently.

* * *

Leo rubbed the side of his head gingerly as he recalled the events from the day before.  
_Damn… A little slower and I'd be wearing an eye-patch on my right…_  
This small injury did not change today's plans: To explore the industrial section of the Ruins.

_That place was closer to the epicentre of the quake, so the buildings are worse off. Since no-one goes there, I might find something new!_  
The prospect of buried treasure, prototype hoverboards, and old tyres filled him with excitement; forgetting about the dull pain in his temple, Leo set off; mentally listing all of the places he could install a tyre swing to.

_Ooh… That's a car factory isn't it?_  
Standing on a tall, old storage building, Leo scanned the area for movement, grinning upon seeing nothing.  
_… Hah, I knew it. This place is too dangerous even by Ruins standards. No-one would ever even think of setting foot here-_

At that moment, Leo heard the distant sound of footsteps and turned around to see a figure running, quite fast, into view on the rooftops a ways from him.  
_What._  
An exasperated expression took over Leo's face as he realised that he wasn't the first one to explore this far; the figure was further inside the factory than he was.

_Ah well, I guess I could ask him about th-_  
It suddenly became apparent that the figure was actually a young girl, though her clothes looked more like those of a…

"… Soldier," the word spilled from his mouth without his consent. He started examining her clothing as he walked leisurely towards her.

_She looks like a damn soldier… Hair braided back… She's got a short-sleeved green shirt… __**Over**__ that black long-sleeved top.  
She's even got… fingerless combat gloves...? And are those camouflaged pants? There aren't any plants nearby- Not even anything __**remotely**__ green around here. __**Why**__ would you do this…?_

… _Although I'd be lying if I said it didn't look good, even those shoes-_  
Leo's thoughts stopped there as he noticed something peculiar…

"… Sparks?!"  
Leo was right, whenever one of the girl's shoes left the ground, there was what appeared to be a small burst of green electricity, sparking around her feet.  
_Well that's… Strange, to say the lea- WHAT._

The girl had just begun scaling a wall; that in itself wasn't overly impressive, Leo had seen it many times before; it was a basic free-running technique.  
However as the girl leaped towards the wall there was what appeared to be a miniature explosion of electricity on the ground where her feet pushed off.  
_It's the shoes! Something in the shoes is… Assisting her. Come to think of it, she __**was**__ running pretty fast, I'd say she's a bit faster than me right now…_

Leo picked up speed, intending to catch up to her, noting the appearance of more sparks where her feet came in to contact the wall; her hands grasped the edge of the wall, and as she pulled herself up, small arcs electricity jumped around her gloves.  
_Her gloves too… I wonder how that works…_

Leo had been so shocked by the mysterious girl, that up until now, he had failed to notice that she wasn't just running; she was running from…  
_White Skullers!_ Leo's focus snapped towards the five familiar faces that were trailing along after the girl, not yet noticing Leo.

The White Skullers were about 10 metres from the wall that the girl had just scaled, any moment now; they would climb the wall and continue after her…  
But before they could get any closer, Leo scrambled up it first, knocking over some empty oil drums; that would take a minute or so to get past.

"You!"  
Looking down at Shiyon, who had called out at him; there was a moment of awkward silence.  
The White Skullers leader continued to look surprised for a moment, and then stared murderously at Leo, who had a blank, innocent expression on his face.

Leo suddenly broke into a large open mouthed grin that strongly resembled the 'XD' emoticon. Having amused himself at the gang's position, Leo left them to sort out their problem.

* * *

Continuing along the path ahead, Leo found himself in some sort of office, likely left as it was since the earthquake; chairs were knocked over, there were shards of broken mugs on the floor, and dust and papers were scattered everywhere, only moving when a breeze passed through the empty doorframe.

In addition, the power grid seemed to have been knocked offline; the room was extremely dark. Leo's eyes adjusted quickly, but he still found himself unable to see further than 3 metres in front of him.

"A draft…" Leo spoke absentmindedly to himself, "That means that there's an exit further down… Oh," he noticed that a small amount of light was pouring in from the far corner where the roof had partially collapsed, "Ceiling's collapsed… Maybe she-"

Before he could finish his sentence, he heard a sharp _buzz_ approaching him from behind; reacting on instinct, Leo threw himself forward and vaulted over a table to put some distance between him and the noise.  
Before landing on his feet, Leo noticed that the back of his neck felt slightly burnt; whatever had made the noise had not missed him totally. Finishing his landing, Leo whirled around and saw… Nothing.

… _What the…_  
_BUZZ…!_  
Leo gasped, caught off guard; in the short amount of time between him vaulting over the table to landing, the mysterious buzzing noise had moved around and flanked him from the left.

"Wait-" Leo was interrupted by the source of the buzzing noise: A crackle of light green sparks; it flew towards his face, but by that time Leo had safely leaned backwards, out of its path.

"Wait! I'm not one of them!"  
Managing to finish his sentence this time, the glowing mass of energy hesitated.

"… Stay still!" a girl's voice, surprisingly mature-sounding, cried out from the darkness.  
Leo did as he was told, but remained tense, expecting another attack.  
Though it wasn't an attack, what happened next made him flinch slightly; the soft green glow was joined by a second, and both grew more intense until the area was sufficiently lighted for both people to see the others' face.

Now close up, Leo could see that the glow was being emitted from the girl's gloves; her face was accented by the harsh light, and her already-green eyes were enhanced to look line an even deeper shade of green.  
The girl's blonde bangs swayed slightly as her harsh panting slowed to a close, and she began to speak,

"… S-… Sorry. I thought-"

"It's fine," Leo cut her off; they didn't have time for formalities right now.

"This way!" He shot off in the direction of the breeze; startled slightly by the boy's trusting nature, the girl hesitated before running after him.

* * *

"… Reagan," the girl had suddenly spoken while they climbed out the broken roof of the office.

"What?"

"That's my name. It's Nelliel Reagan. I thought you should know. I _did_ almost electrocute you," she seemed to feel some guilt about that.  
Leo laughed for a moment, surprising Reagan, and then he turned to her and said,

"Let's just get out of this first; we can talk about whether you would've been able to hit me or not later," Leo flashed her an obnoxious grin before climbing out, followed by Reagan, smiling lightly.

Leo and Reagan leaped out onto the roof, eyes darting around, looking for a way out.

"There!" Reagan jabbed a finger to indicate what she was talking about; a small tower of shipping containers were close enough to the rooftop to jump to.  
Barely. The gap looked to be around 2 metres wide.

"Can you make it, Nel?" Leo worried about her, temporarily forgetting the scene which he saw only moments ago. Reagan gave a short laugh in response, both to the shortening of her name and to his misplaced concern, and dashed towards the edge of the roof; as she closed in on it, her shoes gave off that familiar electric glow, and started to produce a high-pitched whir; just as she was about to reach it, the whir increased rapidly in pitch…

Suddenly an ear-splitting discharge of electricity arced off the ground as Reagan launched off and soared through the air for almost 3 metres before landing heavily on the container, hands slamming down to distribute the impact; sparks flew as her gloves pressed into the metal.

_Whoa…_ Leo thought as he looked on with an impressed expression; Reagan stayed in that position; one knee down with the other foot in front, both hands planted firmly forward, head down. And then quite unexpectedly, she looked over a shoulder, and gave Leo the most tomboyish smirk he'd ever seen.

"Electromagnetic OverAssist," Reagan called over to Leo, with a face of accomplishment.

Was that what she was using? Leo was more interested in the smug look she had just thrown her.  
_Oh, alright then; challenge accepted._ Leo returned with a grin of his own and ran after her.

* * *

Dead end.  
The two words that neither of the fleeing teenagers wanted to hear.  
What they wanted, however, was irrelevant; those two words repeated endlessly in their minds as they stared at the steep drop in front of them.

They had been running for quite some time now, jumping from metal to metal; they didn't have to make any decisions on where to go, the containers were laid out in such a way that they only had one path.

But the path had now ended, if they continued forward, all that awaited them was a 10 metre fall onto the cold, hard ground. The closest thing they could fall jump onto was a warehouse with a brittle-looking roof, and that was between them and the previous container.

Reagan stared, unmoving, into the abyss; she was what one might call a genius, with an IQ of 184, but even she couldn't think of a way out of this predicament.  
_That roof's a death-trap…  
Can't go back; at this point in time we'll just run back into them…_

Reagan's eyes snapped towards Leo, hoping for any kind of helpful idea; wearing an expression of deep thought on his face, he turned towards her and suddenly spoke in the most serious voice she had ever heard,

"Why are there even shipping containers here? Shibuya's pretty far from the ocean."

There was a moment's silence while Reagan's brain processed what her companion had just said. And then,

"Wh- That's what you were thinking about so hard?! I thought you actually had some kind of plan!"  
Slightly embarrassed by her sudden outburst, Reagan turned away and took a deep breath to regain her composure,

"In any case," she continued, "since this was the only path, they'll be here any moment. What's our strategy?"  
This time it was Leo's turn to be silent, the look on his face showed that he thought the answer was the simplest thing in the world,

"We've hit a dead end, and are about to be set upon by five street-brawlers who are hopped up on steroids," he turned around and did some stretches before slamming his fist into his palm and continuing,

"Strategy won't help us; I'll just need to take them down."

Before Reagan could object to both the 'plan' and the usage of the 'I' pronoun, a loud cry was heard,

"There they are! Get 'em!"

The leader made a big show of commanding two of his underlings to jump across to the two trapped teenagers, he himself however stayed behind; perhaps out of caution, remembering the outcome of yesterday's little showdown.

"Los geht's!" Leo yelled out with a battle-ready expression, one of the White Skullers was now about a metre or two away from him, but before Leo could engage him, he heard that familiar high-pitched sound…

Reagan's knee shot forward through the air, right past Leo and into the chest of the closest White Skuller; the force of the impact had visibly winded him, and he was thrown backwards into his teammate who was unfortunate enough to be right behind him; both members collapsed into a heap, unconscious.

Reagan stood up from her landing and tightened her gloves,

"Don't get the wrong idea," Reagan said to a stunned Leo without taking her eyes off the remaining White Skullers, "It's not that I can't fight, I'd just prefer to minimize the chances of damaging my equipment."

She crouched low onto the ground, looking like she was getting ready to sprint…

_BOOM!_

A sound remarkably similar to a sonic boom was unleashed as she flew across to the previous container and smashed her right fist firmly into her next target's face; down he went. Amusingly, Reagan looked slightly surprised and even a bit apologetic; she had not meant to place that much force into her attack.

Taking advantage of her hesitation, the last minion attempted to break her leg with a kick. She had not, however, let her guard down; Reagan countered by skilfully stomping down the man's shin before it connected with hers.  
Undeterred, but wincing in pain, he then followed up with a right hook; to no avail, Reagan's left hand batted it away while her right palm drove into his chest, shocking him unconscious: It seemed that anything that touched her gloves would be instantly electrocuted.

She turned towards Shiyon, the last man standing, and said with a very small shake in her voice,

"Come on!"

… _She just took down four guys. Four. Guys._  
Leo was impressed; granted, she had the element of surprise and that 'OverAssist' gear, but other than looking marginally fatigued and slightly less confident than her words suggested, she seemed even more like a soldier.

But Shiyon didn't seem to care; not about his fallen gang members, and not about the fact that he was facing an opponent who essentially had Tasers for hands. In fact he seemed confident, as if he had noticed something that she had not.

Seeing that he had no intention of making a move, she made one first; charging straight at him, she intended to end it in one strike.

Shiyon was the first person to notice. And now Leo was the second.  
Reagan's gloves were always sparking with energy, even when she was just running, her hands continued to give off that signature green glow.  
But they had stopped; they now looked no different than any other pair of gloves.  
Shiyon had absolute faith in his theory: 'The gloves had stopped working'.  
It was not misplaced.

Reagan's punch was easily caught by Shiyon's right hand; her face had a look of absolute astonishment that lasted roughly one second, before being replaced with one of despair-filled understanding: She was afraid of this happening, it was precisely why she had avoided a direct confrontation, choosing 'flight' over 'fight'.

Reagan struggled to free herself, but she had relied too heavily on her equipment; with its effects gone, the White Skuller's grip felt like a titanium vice.  
Shiyon spun her around and pulled her into a chokehold with his right arm, and placed his left arm casually into his pocket, as if this was just normal day for him.

"Well now, isn' this somethin'? I've got the both of you righ' where I want you," Shiyon looked over to Leo, who was still on the other container, before continuing, "A meddlin' kid, and a li'l thief girl."

That was something that Leo had not expected to hear. Reagan, a thief? He looked at her to gauge her reaction; she appeared to want to say something, but Shiyon kept a firm enough grip that she couldn't.

"Don' believe me? Come over 'ere an' ask her yourself! Now!" Shiyon's right hand twitched and a blade popped out, pointing at Reagan's neck to reinforce his demand; apparently he had been holding a switchblade knife the entire time.

Leo didn't think he was bluffing, he had heard of a White Skullers stabbing incident once; the victim almost died, due to even ambulances being prohibited from entering the Ruins; he had to be carted out into a Shibuya hospital.

Leo stood still for a moment, and then ran towards Shiyon's container; leaping across, Leo's mind was in overdrive, thinking many times faster than usual while he sailed through the air.  
_He won't hurt her. Not yet. It's mainly __**me**__ he wants. Once he deals with me, he'll be in charge again; until he's dealt with me, he definitely won't hurt her-_

The first thing that Leo noticed was the sound. A loud, ringing noise that ripped into his ears.  
The next thing he noticed was the smell of gunpowder, and blood.  
He then became aware that Shiyon's left hand wasn't in his pocket anymore; it was pointing something at him. Something crudely-shaped. Metallic, and smoking.  
Finally, he noticed what most people would have expected to perceive first.

Pain.

* * *

A stinging, burning pain made its way through Leo's left shoulder as he continued through his path through the air, knocked slightly off course by the bullet that had rendered his left arm useless.

Losing momentum, Leo desperately threw his right hand out, and grabbed the side of the container; hanging there in shock, he slowly turned his gaze upwards towards the man who had just shot him, Reiou Shiyon.

Shiyon returned his stare, and very quickly began to laugh.  
The sort of laugh you don't expect to ever hear in person, the sort of laugh that chills your bones and fills you with dread; the laugh of someone who had gone mad.

"I've done i'…! After three an' a 'alf months, I've finally got you!"  
Leo wasn't listening, however; his thoughts were raging inside his head, trying to figure something out.

_A gun… He's got a gun…! How? There's no way you could sneak in with one… Does that mean… He found it in the Ruins…?  
… There are __**working weapons in the Ruins**_.

That was not good. If anyone, particularly people like the White Skullers, got their hands on anything as powerful as a gun, they would have the power to do whatever they pleased; after all, even in emergencies; policeman, doctors, and firemen were prohibited from entering the Ruins.  
But before Leo could follow that line of thought any further,

"Now, this… This is for all th' weapons you trashed, girlie!"  
Leo felt momentarily relieved; Reagan had 'trashed' any weapons that the White Skullers might have had.  
But then he felt a cold stab of fear as he realised what the sentence meant…

Reagan's eyes widened, and she made a sort of choking noise; her arms struggled against Shiyon's left arm, which was now holding her neck, before losing strength and falling to her sides.  
Shiyon dropped her body carelessly to the side; her blood stained the back of her clothes, and slowly slipped off of his knife.

What followed was about three seconds worth of silence; Leo could not believe what he'd just seen.  
_She's dead._  
Those were the only two words that he could form in his mind; before he got any further, Shiyon stomped down on Leo's fingers and laughed again.

"You don' really think I give a damn abou' killing anyone, do you?"  
By this time, the other members of the White Skullers had recovered, and were standing up, albeit a bit unstably.

"Besides… All the way out 'ere…?" Shiyon aimed his gun right down at Leo's head and continued, "No-one's gonna find you two."  
Shiyon started to squeeze the trigger, but apparently having thought of something more amusing, he stopped.

With a final laugh, he said rather calmly,

"Later, kid."

And then, with no hesitation this time...  
Shiyon kicked Leo's hand off the container; without its support, he fell down…

Down…

Down…

* * *

It wasn't over; Shiyon would not allow Leo's dead body to lie peacefully in the depths.  
Leo was well known in the Ruins, he enjoyed challenging people, and being challenged in return, but the reason he was so well known, was because of his good heart; he would teach people better ways to free-run, find lost things for people, protect people who were being assaulted…

If his mangled body was thrown into the middle of the street, everyone would be severely demoralised; in addition, it would reinforce the White Skullers as being the 'Strongest Gang'.

The thought of it all made Shiyon's grin spread even wider, threatening to tear the skin on his face apart.

It was easy to see where he had fallen; the warehouse roof that Reagan had earlier labelled a 'death-trap' now had a large tear in its old, rusty corrugated iron where Leo's body had broken through.

It took about half an hour for the White Skullers to make their way down to the warehouse, a few White Skullers almost fell over upon entering; patches of the ground were covered by a thin layer of petrol.  
Stopping for a moment, they surveyed the area; it appeared to be some sort of garage: A few rusty cars sat in the building, unused tyres were strewn everywhere, and many half-full cylinders of gas were stacked around the area, lining the walls of the building.

"A'ight!" Shiyon shouted at his four followers, "Go find 'is body, now!"  
Shiyon stood not-so-patiently and watched them disperse and search the area, however, aside from everything else, there were piles of junk everywhere; it would take some time before they found him.

And then... One White Skuller had the bad fortune to be the target of a thrown, live electric cable; for the second time today, the man was shocked unconscious, giving a small scream as he fell to the ground; out cold.

Barely hearing his scream, a nearby White Skuller walked over to investigate, and was promptly caught off-guard; knocked senseless by a quick strike to the throat.  
A second or two passed by, and his assailant slowly stepped out of the shadows.

_Damn… Feels like I've broken some bones…_  
Blood dripped off Leo's face; the right side of his temple bore a large gash, and his left arm was broken in two places; not that it mattered, he couldn't have moved it anyway.  
To make matters worse, his right leg felt like it had been run over by a bulldozer, and he was having trouble breathing; as if his lungs were filled with wet cement.

Hearing more footsteps approaching him, Leo made his way to the rafters; moving was agonizingly slow and painful, but if he stayed where he was, Shiyon would undoubtedly finish what he had started.  
Leo concealed himself just in time; another of Shiyon's men walked around the corner.

Leo dropped off the beam he was resting on, planning to fall on top of him while he was distracted by the unconscious bodies of his team members; unfortunately, blood had trickled into over his right eye, throwing off his depth perception.  
Leo fell directly onto his target's left shoulder, and both fell to the ground.

Leo immediately stood up and prepared to finish the job, only to receive a solid punch to the gut; 'immediately' wasn't as immediate as it used to be.

"… Gah…!"  
Leo coughed up some blood before taking a hard left hook to the cut on his head.  
Screaming in agony, he used the momentum from the hit to spin and drive his heel into the back of the Skuller's neck; the shock threw him forward face-first into an iron support, without a sound, he passed out and fell to the ground.

Leo's body begged for rest, but there was no time; he turned to make his way back up into the rafters-

"HERE! HE'S OVER HERE!"  
Cursing himself for being so slow, Leo immediately fled from the source of the voice, tripped over a tyre and fell into a wide, open area where Shiyon was standing.

Leo looked up from the ground to see Shiyon looking shocked; in disbelief that Leo was still alive. A moment went by, and then he started laughing, confusing even the last Skuller.  
Shiyon raised his hand slightly, gun in hand; Leo desperately attempted to move, but before he could…

_BANG!_

* * *

_Drip_

_Drip_

_Drip_

Blood continued to drip off of Leo's face, as it had been for the last 30 minutes.  
But now a different noise filled the air…

A roaring fire engulfed the inside of the warehouse; the bullet that Shiyon fired had collided with a nearby metal support; sparks flew off and set off the petrol patches on the floor.

A burst of adrenaline hit Leo, forcing him up onto his feet.  
His first thought was to run, unfortunately for him he was now in the centre what was essentially a maze of flame; though in no immediate danger right now, the heat from the surrounding flames would eventually cook him to a crisp.

Leo looked over to Shiyon in disbelief, who simply stood there, adjusting his tie; seemingly not caring about the veritable inferno that he had just trapped Leo, his men, and even himself with.  
But then, noticing Leo's puzzled expression, he grinned menacingly and sharply jabbed the thumb of his free hand towards his chest and said one word,

"Fireproof."

"…" Leo wasn't sure what to say, however his injuries, the heat of the raging fire and the adrenaline coursing through him made him say, "How about your head?!"  
As if to answer him, Shiyon reached inside his suit, and drew out a black ski mask; pulling it over his head, Leo could see that it had a skull motif.  
_How creative… Guess that's 'fireproof' too.  
_Shiyon grinned again, almost imperceptible beneath his mask,

"As long as those gas cylinders aren' ruptured, this place'll be safe for a while longer,"

"Hah… You know what 'ruptured' means, huh? Big word like that could've gotten you into high-school."

"Cute."  
Shiyon's face twitched in irritation, before…

"Korra!" Shiyon suddenly barked out at the only other conscious Skuller, who had followed the leader, and donned his mask, "Grab the others, an' haul ass outta 'ere," turning back to Leo, he cracked his knuckles, "I go' the kid."

Without warning, Shiyon suddenly closed in on Leo and used his arm to lariat him to the ground.

"_Urgh!_" Shiyon's forearm had hit Leo's chest dead-on, throwing him backwards and expelling a large amount of blood; he definitely had serious bleeding inside.  
Before he could recover, Shiyon grabbed his collar and hoisted him up with one hand, and punched him in the side of the head with his other.

Leo stumbled backward, having been released temporarily; Shiyon closed in again, aiming to hit the wound on Leo's temple.  
Leo raised his arm to guard, but didn't have nearly enough strength to stop Shiyon's blow; it struck him at full-force.  
Crumpling to the ground again, Leo began to gasp for air; smoke was filling the warehouse, he wouldn't last much longer.

"And now…" Shiyon began, walking slowly towards Leo's downed body, "I'm gonna kill you, kid. Just like I killed you li'l girlie friend."

Suddenly reminded of Reagan's death, Leo was filled with rage.  
Shiyon roughly took hold of Leo's shirt again and lifted him off the ground; his right hand went to his pocket and pulled out his knife, still red with Reagan's blood… And thrust it directly towards Leo's heart.

If there was any chance of Leo dying here by Shiyon's hand, it was destroyed the moment he saw that knife.  
Filled with an unbelievable fury that he had never felt before, Leo grabbed Shiyon's hand right before the knife penetrated his skin.  
Stunned, Shiyon paused a moment before pushing against Leo's grip; both gritted their teeth as they struggled against one another, the knife drew closer and closer to his heart, and just when it drew the smallest drop of blood from his chest…

"HAHH…!" Leo's right leg suddenly shot out and smashed into Shiyon's chin with considerable force; Shiyon reeled backwards as Leo disarmed him and threw the knife into the flames behind him. A quick death was too good for him.

Leo ran forward and struck Shiyon square in the chest with his left foot, stepping off of him, he then kicked him in the stomach with all of his strength.  
Shiyon doubled over, winded as Leo fell to the ground, he wheeled in mid-air and struck Shiyon's shoulder-blade with his heel.

As he landed, Shiyon half-recovered and made a grab for Leo's neck; twisting, Leo used Shiyon's momentum to fling him into a pile of gas cylinders which painfully collapsed on top of them.

After waiting exactly one second, Leo started towards the buried Shiyon; there was no way he was letting him go with just that.  
Suddenly, Shiyon burst out of the cylinders, screaming in frustration.

Glaring at each other for a moment, Shiyon charged at Leo, who whirled clockwise and shot his right foot into Shiyon's neck, though it wasn't a clean hit, Shiyon's eyes widened in pain, and he found himself unable to breath; taking advantage of this, Leo swung back and yelled as he struck Shiyon's solar plexus with the tips of his five fingers, mirroring the events of the day before.

Shiyon's mouth opened wide in a silent scream; he had no air in his lungs to make sound, furiously, his hand dove back into his suit and pulled out his gun, he pointed it straight at Leo's head and…  
_BANG!_  
Leo, anticipating the bullet, dove to the right as the bullet skimmed by his left eye.

They say your life flashes before your eyes in your final moments.  
Leo's didn't; everything just seemed to move in slow motion.

The bullet, carelessly fired by an enraged Shiyon, hit a gas cylinder; dead-centre.  
Shiyon's face slowly changed as he realised what he had done, and he started to scream in terror.  
Leo's face didn't change at all. He only watched the bullet as it dug into the metal of the gas container…

A white flash.

And darkness descended.

* * *

"… -losion in the 'Ruins of Shibuya' has called for the local authorities to make their first ever expedition into the Ruins to halt the resultant fire before it spreads. Experts project that if unchecked, the blaze could potentially travel over into Shibuya itself. Next up on-…"

* * *

Announcement.  
Talking.  
Traffic lights.  
Walking.

…_!_  
Leo slowly opened his eyes as he heard a cluster of familiar sounds.  
Half-awake, he found himself lying in the middle of Scramble Crossing.

Leo slowly pushed himself off of the ground, subconsciously noting the lack of pain in his body.  
_…?_

Bit by bit, his thoughts started to arrange themselves, but before they could totally assemble,

"_Do you want to live?_"

Startled, he whirled around to find a man in a black hood standing behind him.  
The Grim Reaper, perhaps; Leo briefly entertained the thought before staring at the stranger in front of him?

Neither of them moved. And then the enigmatic hooded figure repeated his question,

"… _Do you want to live?_"

"… Who are you…?"

"… _Do you want to live?_"

"… Is that all you can say…?"

Leo shook his head, half-frustrated, half-confused.  
Looking around once more, he took all that had happened in stride.

"So… I guess I'm… Dead, huh?"  
Solemnly looking down at the ground, Leo was interrupted by a car that rudely drove right through him.

"… Ha… Haha…" Almost as if someone had told a funny joke, Leo chuckled to himself.  
Then he met the hood's gaze again, as he could not see the face underneath.

"'Do I want to live…?'… Are you offering me my life back?"

"… _Do you want to live?_"

"… I don't-"

"_I care not for your human reasoning,_" the hooded being spoke his first new sentence, "_I care not about your doubts, or your fears, or your questions._"

The figure disappeared, leaving Leo alone and surprised for an instant, but then he rematerialized right in front of Leo's face, staggering him.

"_Do. You. Want. To. Live?_"

Even at point-blank range, Leo's eyes could not penetrate the darkness beneath the hood. Even so…  
His thoughts raced back to the Ruins, all the people he had left behind; several gangs would compete for supremacy, and perhaps eventually, a new "White Skullers" would be born. He couldn't let it happen.

"… Yes. I do."

"_Why?_"

_This guy says he doesn't care for __**my**__ questions…_ Leo thought for a second before answering,

"There are important things I still have to do."

Suddenly, as if triggered by his response, black tendrils extended from beneath the hood and snaked over to Leo's right hand, which was forcefully pulled away from him by some unseen force.

_Welcome to the Reapers' Game._

"!?" Unexpectedly, Leo began hearing a voice in his head, sometimes overlapping with itself, but saying different things each time.  
Wind started to swirl around the pair…

_It is a Game… Where you will bet your very Existe-_

_Days. You will be given a number of Days until you are Erased._

_Pact_

_-emaining Time is marked on your Existence Tim-_

_The Partner System is based upon co-ope-_

_Trust._

_-in, and you earn your life ba-_

_Sync._

_Believe in yourself._

_Believe in your Partner…_

The tendrils circled around Leo's palm and suddenly he felt a stabbing sensation, he attempted to yank his arm away, and to his surprise, was able to; the tendrils retracted, and the raging storm subsided.

"… _It's been a while since I've seen someone Marked... I trust you'll entertain us, boy._"

Without bothering to explain himself, the mysterious hooded entity vanished as quickly as he came.

* * *

Silent.

Three seconds had passed since the hooded one left.  
Same streets.  
Same noises.

News announcement on Q Floor.  
People talking.  
Traffic lights blinking.  
Crowds walking.

But a new noise found its way to Leo's ears.

_Tick…_

_Tick…_

_Tick…_

A single bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as he suddenly felt an inexplicable sensation of fear grip his heart.

_Tick…_

_Tick…_

_Tick…_

Leo slowly raised his right hand, and raised his palm upwards.  
Blood-Red numbers floated above it, as if carved into the air.

_12:23:59:48…_

_12:23:59:47…_

_12:23:59:46…_

Katy's attention suddenly snapped towards Scramble Crossing, where she felt the presence of a strong Soul among the new Players.  
Soon afterwards, a voice echoed throughout all of Shibuya, noticed by every single resident of the UnderGround:

_Leo Parker.  
You have XIII Days._

* * *

**Okay, so I find that usually the first chapter's longer than the others, but wow; that was long :P**

**Sorry about that, but I really wanted Leo to die (that sounds harsh XD) before ****Chapter III**** started, plus I wanted to fit in all that backstory, and meeting/unmeeting Reagan… Phew.**

**Anyway, I hope that was at least somewhat enjoyable; if you could perhaps leave a review, I'd be full of the grates.  
(Grateful)  
Shh, no-one must know…**

**Oh, and I know readers should be imagining what they read, but I'd recommend visualising the 'high-pitched whir' as the same noise that Iron Man's repulsor make before they fires *Thumbs-up*  
And the pose that Reagan lands in after the 'Electromagnetic OverAssist'?  
Think of Solid Snake in the Tanker Chapter from Metal Gear Solid 2 XD**

**#SonsOfLiberty**

**Have a nice day, and just so you know; I don't plan on future chapters being so looong~  
They will be shorter; normal-sized.  
Whatever 'normal' is…**

**Bye : )**

…

**You have no idea how close I was to typing,  
"It seemed that anything that touched her gloves would meet a shocking fate"**

**XD**


	3. Chapter III - The Reapers' Game Remixed

**I am returned~**

**That is actually an actual phrase, actually XD**

**Sorry that it's been a while since my last update, but I DID say 'Updates may be sparse'~  
Such busy, much work.**

**ALSO. Sick.  
I was- AM seeeeck.  
This WOULD'VE gone up 4 days ago but Idus flangr engh…**

**Anyway, third chapter :]  
I hope you enjoy it; I think the writing gets a bit clunky near the end… But let's see :P**

**…**

**AND.  
I forgot that thanks are in order~  
Thank you to Xenux and Arkenusora for le kind words and being my first followers :D**

**Now then… Allons-y~**

I don't speak French :P

******UPDATE: Updated Katy's description, and I made a mistake during Mushin's recording. 'Pact with a Partner' is NOT a Mission :P**

* * *

**Chapter III – The Reapers' Game Remixed**

Noise.

The air around the Scramble Crossing seemed to ripple and burst apart; crimson liquid, somewhat resembling darkened blood, came flooding out, swarming the airspace and inciting panic and confusion.

The liquid twisted and roiled, separating and flowing into separate shapes; soon the Scramble Crossing was surrounded on all sides by floating, bloody symbols.  
_… Skulls...?_  
Leo found himself staring at the symbol closest to him, and realised it resembled a heavily stylised image of some small animal's skull, as if it were some sort of tattoo.

His train of thought was suddenly derailed as the symbol drew closer and touched his arm,

"_AAAAGGGHH!_"

It burned like acid.

* * *

Leo threw himself back as hard as he could; disoriented from the seething pain in his arm, he crashed down onto the ground.

Immediately, the panic in the crowd exploded into full-on terror; it appeared that others had experienced the scorching touch of the floating symbols; Leo leaped off of the ground, and his eyes flew around wildly as he attempted to comprehend the situation.  
But before he could do anything else…

_KZZZT…!_

A kid standing to his right had been rammed by a symbol; she gave a cry as she fell backwards… And started to slow down mid-fall.  
Her body gave off a strange glow, and she stopped falling completely, suspended, as if someone had hit 'pause' in the middle of a movie.

Leo watched on; her body unexpectedly started to dissolve into static; the kind you expect to see when your television has a bad signal.  
The last wisps of black, white, and grey drifted off, and Leo's mind kicked into overdrive, and he lunged towards a symbol behind him who was in the middle of charging towards a young woman; she was sprawled on the ground, wearing black tights, with a matching black skirt and top; she struck Leo as a Lapin Angelique fan, but that wasn't important right now.  
Leo sprung forwards onto his hands and pushed off of the ground, attempting to drive a kick into the symbol; he was promptly repelled by a burning sensation on his legs.

Abandoning his ill-thought out plan, Leo grabbed the woman's wrist and pulled her up off the ground,

"Go!"  
He shouted at her amidst the chaos, pointing towards the Shibu Department Store; without waiting for a reply, he darted off towards the next nearest person in danger; at that point, a new wave of the liquid burst forth and rushed towards the screaming citizens of Shibuya; Leo briefly noticed some orange mixed in with the red before it flooded over the ground and engulfed him, and everyone else.

The liquid subsided quickly, rising back into the sky, however its effect lingered on Leo; interestingly he was completely dry, and there was no trace of the liquid upon him, or his clothes.

But the pain stayed right where it was; Leo was suddenly overcome by a level of pain so great that he considered dropping to the ground, and resigning himself to fate.  
Leo fell to one knee, and his body seemed to flicker and shift around ever so slightly, as if he was a dying hologram; his vision became blurry and shrouded by static.

… _No…!  
NO!_  
Leo forced himself up and steadied himself; he wasn't giving up here.  
Slowly, his form began to pull itself back together, and he gradually became able to see clearly.  
Unfortunately, not everyone was so lucky; as he stood up, he saw a few traces of static; signs of another death, or rather, Erasure.

"_MICHAEL!_"  
Leo heard a shriek from his right, and whipped his head around to see what had happened.  
_Nngh… It's her again… Why's she still here?_  
Following her gaze, Leo's eyes landed upon a man in a plain black coat who was surrounded on one side by an unusually high number of symbols,

"CAMILA, JUST RUN!"  
The woman named 'Camila' shook her head and forcefully and yelled something back, but Leo didn't hear; he was focused on the mass of liquid in the sky, which was coming back down again.  
While he still had no intention of giving up, he didn't think that he, or anyone else, could take another hit from the scorching molten flood.

Just as Leo was about to move, a flash of light burst across the sky from the 104 Building; the wave vanished into oblivion.  
In shock, Leo quickly turned towards 104 and caught a glimpse of a figure standing on the corner of nearby rooftop.

The sun shone brightly, casting the shadow of a skyscraper over the person's face, but Leo could see that they had their arm raised forward; light surged around their hand, and they seemed to be catching their breath; they crouched down, and…

In a flash, the figure had disappeared.

_!?_  
Leo's eyes could barely keep up; all he saw was a blur, it rapidly descended from the roof, and hit the ground with a crash, landing in-between the man called 'Michael' and the mass of symbols.

For a split second Leo could clearly see her; a girl who appeared to be in her late teens like Leo himself, who was 17, though you wouldn't know that without looking at her face:

She wore very unusual attire for a 21st century teenager; an old-fashioned white cardigan, handmade, by the looks of it; it had elaborate raised patterns knitted around it, and the sleeves were almost rolled up to her elbows. She was also wearing a very soft-pink skirt, the fabric of which appeared to be silk; it came down to her ankles but was partially opened at the side, likely to accommodate mobility; Leo also noticed that the skirt's fabric ran over itself at the opening, so that it was more of a spiral than a circle; this prevented her legs from being extensively revealed, and gave him the impression that she was one for modesty; another rare trait for a teenage girl.

She also wore a hairclip that looked to be made of Silver, or perhaps even Platinum; it held the side of her short amber hair to the right as her fringe swept out to the left; the hairclip had intricate carvings in it, looking to be of extremely high-quality and value; a thin bangle of similar style and make hung around her right wrist, and two more hung on her left.

Her face looked slightly weary, and her clothes had a few tears here and there; she looked like she had just escaped some sort of assault.  
Despite this, and the turmoil that raged around her, she seemed oddly calm to Leo; she gave off an air of refinement, and dignity.

Everyone's eyes were on her; they found something mysterious about her, something gave them the strange impression that she was almost like a lady of royalty.  
Maybe it was her clothing.  
Maybe it was her jewellery.

Or maybe it was her blazing violet eyes...

* * *

No sooner had Katy touched the ground than she had left it again; her body danced gracefully from symbol to symbol as her left hand arced with bright energy, cutting through each threat; in less than 10 seconds, she had destroyed almost 20 of the dangerous symbols.

At this point her delicate frame was trembling, and her breath came out in harsh gasps; touching down once more, and resting for a brief moment, she held out her hand for Michael,

"Michael, get up! Get to her!" Katy hurriedly urged him; immediately she noticed the strange lack of emotion on his face; there was dull surprise, but that was about it; it took him a moment before he accepted her hand, after which she helped him up and directed him over to Camila,

"Michael! Michael!" Camila repeated his name as tears poured from her eyes, hugging him tightly, their reunion was short-lived, however; Katy hesitated for a fraction of a second before interrupting,

"You have to Pact! Now!"  
To her dismay, Camila gave her a slightly confused look.

"Pact…?!" She urgently said once more, "Pacting? Partners? To stop these monsters, the Noise? Anything?!" Then…

"'Pact'… 'Pact'…" Camila murmured to herself, "… 'Pact'!" She turned to Michael, "That hooded man said something about 'Pacting', and taking a 'Partner'!"  
Michael gave a short nod, but before he could ask Katy how exactly to 'Pact', she abruptly shot away from them and crashed through another 'Noise', saving someone else, a small victory, as a third, larger wave formed and crept toward the remaining people…

"Co-operation!" Leo, having remembered something, yelled out, "'The Partner System is based on co-operation'!" They turned towards him before he anti-climatically concluded, "So... Co-operate!" He finished, frustrated.

Almost as soon as he finished his sentence, he was felt a light push from behind him as a rush of air blew past; everyone stopped to look, and even the Noise froze in mid-air, as if to watch; two teenage boys standing further out from the rest of the group were clasping hands, streams of light were swirling around them, pushing the Noise away.

It lasted for a second or so, and abruptly ended; they looked as surprised as everyone else.

"Great!" Katy called out to them, with her face slightly more hopeful, "That's it, you Pacted!" Her look of satisfaction quickly disappeared; the ground shook as the wave sped up, and rushed towards the last of the crowd, most now huddled together in the centre of the crossing.

The majority of them turned in desperation, looking towards Katy for help; they were still not totally willing to 'Pact' with others; they didn't trust each other, but they trusted her to a degree.  
To their collective disappointment, she merely stood where was, calmly watching the looming threat of Erasure; her mouth was set in a thin, hard line.  
The wave reached the two boys who had 'Pacted' first; they flinched, anticipating their impending demise, but right before the wave struck them, it parted, flowing smoothly around them like a river around a stone.

Katy's mouth suddenly bent into a grin; she had been waiting for that, to prove a point: 'Pact, and you'll be protected'. Leaping into the air, she flung her palm out at the wave,

"Demonstration's over!"

A deafening boom rang out as the flood was forced back, and degenerated.  
Having seen the two teenagers survive a direct assault from the wave, everyone instantly became more inclined to the idea of 'Pacting'.

Most people grabbed another's hand, unsure of what to do after that, but it was that act alone that did the trick; 'Pacting' was the act of two people consciously deciding to co-operate with each other for the foreseeable future.

The Scramble Crossing became filled with light the final survivors found someone to Pact with, a few frantically running around, searching for a person who had not yet taken a Partner.  
Slightly stunned from the rush of events that had just occurred, Leo was frozen, awestruck; the light subsided, and there was a moment of calm before all of the remaining Noise turned towards Leo, apparently unwilling to attack anyone who had Pacted.  
Realising the danger he was in, he sprinted off and started looking for someone free, but it wasn't easy; the entire area was full of people. Leo cut through the mass of people, pushing them to the side and calling out,

"HEY! YELL BACK IF YOU HAVEN'T PACTED YET!"

One of the Noise in pursuit caught up and succeeded in touching his heel; Leo cried out and stumbled before falling down onto the pavement.

"Argh…!"  
Leo twisted around to see a swarm of Noise quickly approaching him; luckily for him, before they could end his Existence, Katy dropped down in front of him, shielding him from the Noise,

She staggered a moment before shouting to him,

"RUN!"  
Confident that she could handle it, he managed to gasp out,

"Thanks…!"  
Leo took off once again, seeking a Partner.

* * *

By this point, everyone was moving well out of the way, not intending to get in his way; due to this, Leo had a clear view of a certain person that was a long ways ahead of him.  
_!... That's…!_

"HEYYY! REAGAN!"

Reagan, who was kneeling and seemingly talking to someone lying on the ground, quickly turned around, alarmed by someone calling out her name; her mouth dropped open upon seeing Leo's familiar face.

Leo closed in on her and stretched out his hand, Reagan ran up to him, doing the same; their hand closed around each other and…

Nothing.

Leo's mind went blank; why weren't there any lights? Was their some requirement he hadn't met? Was he a special case? Or… Did she not want to be his Partner?  
Did a Pact have to be mutually agreed on by both parties?

His attention was shook back into reality when he realised that Reagan was pulling on his hand,

"What are you standing still for?! Follow me!"  
The pair started to run back the way she had come, and a new idea surfaced,

"Nel… Do you…"

"I'm… Sorry; I already have a Partner. It looks like I can't Pact twice…"

"… It's fine; you're trying to help me, right? You wouldn't drag me along without a plan, would you?"

Reagan turned around, not stopping, and looked at Leo's face in surprise; he was giving her the same obnoxious grin he had much earlier; he had once again taken something serious and somehow made it less upsetting.  
Reagan found that she was unable to keep herself from smiling back,

"Yeah! Of course I have a plan! Just keep running!"

They arrived back where he had originally seen her: Next to the person on the ground: A boy, looking a bit younger than Leo was, but by no means young.  
Leo's eyes quickly ran him over; he immediately thought that he was some kind of athlete as he was wearing a tank top and shorts; both had white lines running around the fabric, giving it a stylish feel. He also had a pair of black shoes; they had orange highlights and appeared to be for basketball.

Leo looked at his face, and saw that he was unconscious; his spiky hair was short enough that Leo could easily see his closed eyes.  
The one thing that was odd to Leo was the boy's body; it was rather poorly built for someone who was dressed like an athlete, maybe he was a simple fan? Then again, the amount of muscle that he had looked to be well below average, as if he hadn't used his body for quite some time.

"Hey! What are you waiting for? Pact with him!"  
Leo found his mind wandering again, and quickly grabbed the boy's hand,

"… Nothing's happening…!"

"What!? But- Dammit!" Reagan took her first look at the boy since returning to his side and saw that he was out cold, "Rrgh, I told him to stay awake!"

Leo had no idea how to respond; it looked like she was talking about something he didn't know about. Reagan looked back at Leo, then back at the boy again,

"… Daniel," Reagan raised her hand and pointed her index finger at 'Daniel's' face, "Daniel, wake up," then, quite unexpectedly, she poked him in the cheek a few times; Leo's brain took a moment to process this before stifling a laugh.  
_Well… I suppose there's no hurry now…_

_SCREEEECH!_

Leo and Reagan's relaxed expressions vanished as they heard the unified cry of a horde of Noise.  
Turning away from the still unconscious Daniel, they saw a pack of around 50 Noise rapidly flying towards Leo and Daniel,

"Okay, time's up! Wake him up, wake him up!" Leo rapidly ordered Reagan; she then raised her hand, hesitating for a second, before giving Daniel a hard smack on the side of the face,

"Wh- Hey!" Leo began to protest,

"I don't like it either, but you have to be conscious to Pact with someone!"

"Wha-? How do you know-"

Another cry from the Noise rang out, louder and closer than before.

"Now's not the time…!" Reagan gave Daniel another strong whack, but to no avail, he remained unconscious.

At that moment, Katy came flying down the road, chasing after the Noise; her clothing was even more damaged at this point, and she had scratches on her skin when the Noise had injured her.

Seeing that she wasn't going to make it in time, she slammed her foot down into the asphalt and held up her left hand, which Leo could now see held a black designer pin.  
_We're not gonna make it…_  
Just as that thought crossed his mind, violet energy started to whirl around Katy; she roared and thrust the Pin forward, and exactly 50 chains burst out of it.  
Each chain had a spearhead on the end, and every Noise was impaled and held back from moving any further.  
One Noise in particular stopped mere centimetres from Leo's face.

"_I can't hold them for long! Hurry up and Pact!_"

_What do I do…?_ Leo thought to himself, at a loss.  
_… I don't know what to do…!_

"… We're out of options," Reagan suddenly announced; Leo looked at her in disbelief, was she just giving up?  
No, far from it; she reached into her pocket and pulled out… Another Pin.  
Unlike Katy's, however, instead of being black, it had a stylised image of lightning bolts printed onto it.

She held it to Daniel's chest and...  
_ZAP!_  
Daniel's eyes shot open, and he recoiled in pain from the shock that Reagan had given him; Leo stared at Reagan once more,

"How the _hell_ did you-"  
_SNAP!_  
One of the larger Noise broke free of a chain and charged at Leo; this Noise Symbol was chrome-coloured, rather than red, however.  
_Damn!_  
As it drew nearer, it changed; from the symbol, a creature began to claw its way out, as if the symbol was a medium for it.

"_Hey!_" Leo shouted at Daniel, "_Pact with me!_"  
The Noise, now resembling a grizzly bear, reared back and prepared to sink its claw into Leo…

"… I accept!"

Right as the claw began to graze the surface of Leo's skin, a burst of light emanated from between him and Daniel; it burned through the bear Noise, and pushed back the other Noise that were further away.

And in an instant they all retreated, back into the unseen void they had come from.

* * *

_Tick…_

_Tick…_

_Tick…_

_12:23:48:56_

The Timer on Leo's hand was still steadily counting down, unaffected by all of the chaos that had just transposed.

Most people had collapsed in exhaustion, some were, impressively, already making a plan on what to do next, and some had fled the Scramble Crossing altogether.  
But no matter where they were, the same thing was about to happen to everyone.

_Beep…_

_Beep…_

_Beep…_

_!?... What's that…_

_Beep…_

_Beep…_

_Beep…_

_A… Phone…?_

_Beep…_

_Beep…_

_Beep…_

Leo reached into his pocket and found a smartphone, one he had never seen before.  
On it, it displayed the Roman numeral 'II'.

_Beep…_  
'I'

_Beeeeeep  
'Zero'_

"_Welcome, Players._"  
A familiar voice echoed throughout the area; everyone else had found a similar phone in their pocket, and a recording was playing simultaneously from each device.

"_I am Goumaki Mushin, and I am the Conductor of the Remixed Reapers' Game,_" upon hearing these words, many of the 'Players' started to talk amongst themselves,

"'_Remixed_ Reapers' Game'?"

"Conductor?"

"Who the hell _is_ this guy…?"

"_I'd like to take a moment to congratulate the 16 of you who have survived the warm-up, heh-heh-heh..._"  
Leo looked at Reagan, worryingly.

"_Who did you Pact with? That person is now your Partner for the remainder of your stay in the UnderGround; the UG._"

"'UG'…" Reagan whispered to herself, "Is that where the dead go…?"  
Leo felt a slight pang of guilt as he was reminded of his failure to save Reagan.

"_Once a Pact is made, it can __**never**__ be broken. I do hope you chose wisely…_"  
Predictably, there were sighs of relief, and some arguing and regret as well.

"_The Remixed Reapers' Game is played in cycles, opening on Mondays, and closing on Sundays. You will be given the opportunity to complete Missions, assigned via your Re:Phone, if you are successful, you will have earned yourself more Time to Exist; if you fail, you may be subject to Erasure._"

"Erasure…?" Leo noticed Camila repeating the word, gripping Michael closer to her; it seemed that they had successfully Pacted.

"_I caution Players not to think they can survive this Game by avoiding Missions; on your dominant hand, you'll see your Existence Timer, if you do not continue to earn Time, you will be Erased upon it hitting zero._"

Suddenly, Leo noticed the incessant ticking slowing down,

"_You will be pleased to know that you have all successfully completed your first Mission, 'Pact with a Partner'. While there is no reward in terms of Time, your Timer will now be paused until 12:00am Tuesday; from now on, completing a Mission on any given day will pause your Timer until the dawn of the next day, as well as earning you the inherent rewards of the Mission._"

Leo's Timer slowed to a crawl, and finally stopped on _12:23:46:49_.

"_These are the basic guidelines to surviving this Game. If you wish to learn additional rules, and I recommend that you do, you will find a 'Help' option on your Re:Phone. Ask it any question, and it will provide you with the best possible answer. Probably,_" Mushin added, before giving a short, cold laugh.

"_And with that, this induction is complete; I wish the new Players the best of luck.  
Let your Game begin."_

There was a clattering noise; Mushin seemed to have picked up his recording device,

"_Oh… And, one more thing,_" he said, "_It's very likely that you have already met Players that have been in the Game longer than you; I don't encourage you to trust them._"  
Everyone looked to Katy, who was standing calmly with her arms crossed, emotionless.

"… _Looks can be deceiving._"  
Mushin let out one final, low laugh before the recording ended.

_KZZzzt…_

Silence.

**Alright, that's three chapters :D  
Magic number. At this point it's serious business =_=  
(Determined Face)  
Oh, and starting from here, this will be the average length of future chapters :D  
****Exceptions may include… *Can't think of one ._.***  


**I'd like to start putting random facts before and after chapters; I think I'll do that c:**

**Let's see… Katy is British – Japanese. There's one :P  
XD**

**If you have any questions or any kind of request, really, I'd like to hear them! Audience interaction is something I enjoy C:**

**And as always, reviewing, faving, or following would be much appreciated~  
It keeps me going XD  
Of course, it's a 'Free Country', so y'know. Your choice.  
… If you're in a country that's not 'free', I apologize.**

**And with that, I think I'm done :)  
I hope Chapter IV can be done a little faster, but I try to prioritize quality over update rate :P**

**Bye :D**


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